April 2012

Press release

With Mothers’ Day coming up next month, this is a good time to think ahead and shop the Highline Historical Society’s online auction.

You’ll find gifts galore for the deserving mom in your life. Fun family outings, dining and entertainment packages, home and garden items, resort vacations, local services, and much more are up for bid.

Items in a variety of price ranges are available, and the online bidding process is fun and easy.

Proceeds from this auction will support the Historical Society’s Capital Building Campaign to fund its new museum, as well as providing cataloguing software for the museum collections.

The auction runs now through April 29. Link to the auction from the Highline Historical Society website at
http://www.highlinehistory/.org

press release:
Eastbound traffic on the Spokane Street Viaduct will be temporarily shifted onto the adjacent new viaduct structure at 5 a.m. on Thursday morning, April 12. The two lanes of eastbound traffic will join the two lanes of westbound traffic, which had previously been moved over to the new structure late last year. This shift of eastbound traffic is expected to remain in place until late this summer, when the Spokane Street Viaduct Widening Project is substantially complete.

It is necessary to move the eastbound traffic off of the old viaduct structure so that its bridge deck surface can be repaired and resurfaced, after which eastbound traffic will be returned to the then refurbished structure. During this temporary configuration, travel lanes will be 10 feet wide to accommodate four lanes of traffic. Once eastbound traffic returns to the refurbished structure, all lanes will be 11 feet wide in the permanent configuration. In the interim, the speed limit on the Spokane Street Viaduct will be 25 MPH (down from 35 MPH) for safety.

In a combined meeting for White Center, joining the Community Development Association (WCCDA) and the Chamber of Commerce area business owners were shown the most recent updates to plans for changes coming to White Center in a meeting Tuesday, April 10 at Be's Crawfish House.

New Community Website
Being built by Kathi Wheeler of Noise without Sound design the new site called www.visitwhitecenter.com will according to Wheeler, "be the chamber's site, but we will be using it to promote White Center on a whole as a great place to come eat, play and shop.

It will feature a calendar, business directory with listings and info on each business with lots of photos, a news feed, a facebook feed, and social media links.

On the home page "the main menu will be the business directory, events and news, neighborhood, and chamber links," said Wheeler.

Kate Crowe got her dog Sombou (whom she affectionately refers to as Boudle) in Albequerque, New Mexico about 7 1/2 year ago. "He had run away and he found my friends dog as a kind of parent and my friend said, 'I'm not allowed to have two dogs.' So, she was trying to find a place for him and she was about to take him to the pound and we couldn't find his parents. He was five weeks old."

Sombou is of a somewhat mixed breed heritage so it might have been hard to find his parents anyway.

"The vet guessed that he is a German Shepherd and Yellow Lab and that was when was tiny," Crowe said.

"He used to run away all the time when he was little. It was horrible. When you got home and right before you closed the door you'd take his leash off and it was bye bye. The longest he was gone for was 27 hours. But he came back, covered in ticks and exhausted. But that was in Santa Fe." Sombou has since reformed his escape tactics and now stays pretty close.

Press release:

FREE, OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

On Thursday, April 12th, Representative Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) will speak at a forum entitled “The Threat to Social Security: An Issue for All Generations.”

The event, sponsored by Social Security Works – Washington, will take place at Highline Community College in Des Monies, WA. Rep. Kucinich will be joined by Pramila Jayapal, Executive Director, One America; Marilyn Watkins, Policy Director, Economic Opportunity Institute; and Magdaleno Rose-Avila, Executive Director, The Latino Equality Initiative.

The event will dispel myths circulating about Social Security, which has been intensified by the rhetoric of the campaign season. Speakers will discuss the importance of Social Security to all generations – and particularly for women and people of color – as well as possible ways to strengthen the program and improve benefits.
The event will run from 6:30 – 8:30 PM in the Student Union Building at Highline C.C. (Building 8).

Preliminary work continues on Wednesday, April 11 along 15th Avenue NW to prepare for the RapidRide D Line in Ballard.

Work will consist of moving existing bus shelters and bus stops to make way for the installation of the RapidRide stops and stations. Crews will be working near the Ballard Bridge and locations south of the bridge.

For more information on the RapidRide D Line, visit http://www.kingcounty.gov/transportation/kcdot/MetroTransit/RapidRide/D…

It was déjà vu for cross-town soccer rivals on April 10 as the West Seattle High School Wildcats hosted the Chief Sealth International High School Seahawks.

Sealth took control from the opening whistle and rarely let the Wildcats into their defensive half as they handily won 12-0. Sealth beat West Seattle 10-0 in their meeting earlier this year.

Please click the image above for more.

Seahawk Abel Madrigal opened the onslaught in the fourth minute, added a second five minutes later, and 14 minutes into the first half Sealth was up 4-0, a serious lead in the game of soccer.

The Wildcats were burned by loose defensive marking throughout the match as Sealth fluidly worked the ball inside and out with relative impunity, creating dangerous crosses, flicks and outside shots.

West Seattle exhibited brief moments of flair with a few threatening through balls that nearly resulted in scoring chances, but for the most part were unable to maintain possession long enough to create a sustained attack on Sealth goalkeepers Kristian Nilssen (in the first half) and Luis Ramirez (in the second half).

April Pools Day highlights fun and water safety
(press release from King County Public Health)

Get ready for a safe and active summer on the water at April Pools Day on Saturday, April 21. Twenty-two pools in King County and across the state will hold free events where children and families can learn important water safety skills, while enjoying free swim time and games.

In West Seattle, the event runs from 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on April 21 at the Southwest Pool, 2801 S.W. Thistle.

"Water sports are a great way to have fun and be physically active," said Dr. David Fleming, Director and Health Officer for Public Heath – Seattle & King County. "But please stay safe. That means closely supervising children, wearing a life jacket and avoiding the deadly mix of alcohol, drugs, and water activities."

The Westcrest Park P-Patch took the next step toward reality on April 7 as the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods held a meeting with neighbors and potential future gardeners. But notably different from other P-Patch efforts in and around this area was the degree to which this project reflects the ethnicity of the area.

Those gathered represented the Somali community, the Hispanic community and the Cambodian community so in addition to those speaking english each table had a designated interpreter which led to some gentle laughter as Mark Brands of the Site Workshop spoke, and had to wait as each table heard the translation and got the information.

Brands said that it's challenging with four different languages being spoken. "That's the biggest challenge of this project, the outreach," said Brand.

The P-Patch Community Gardening Program is managed by the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods in partnership with the P-Patch Trust, a non-profit corporation. Today, there are 75 P-Patch gardens, with 2,200 plots and 4,400 gardeners.

For kids (and many parents) playing and following soccer these days, the name Jimmy McAlister may not ring a bell. Mention Hope Solo, Clint Dempsey or Fredy Montero – today’s modern stars - and the ears perk up in response to what have become household names.

But if you go back decades, to the 1960’s, one of Seattle’s soccer greats was being first introduced to the game by recently emigrated Irish priests teaching at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic School right here in West Seattle.

From there he would rise through the ranks of prep stardom at JFK in Burien and sign with the original Seattle Sounders (of the now defunct North American Soccer League) right out of high school to be named rookie of the year in 1977. He was called up for several appearances with the U.S. National Team, and became one of the most solid defenders in our nation’s football history. In the 1980s, the latter parts of his playing career, Jimmy played for the Tacoma Stars of the Major Indoor Soccer League and eventually became their coach during the 1988 season.